More specifically, the invention relates to a dispenser device adapted to be held in the hand and which includes a pump mounted on a container of liquid, the pump being above the free surface of the liquid in the container while the device is in use.
In the prior art, such devices have always included a dip-tube which extends from the dispenser down to the bottom of the container. Such a dip-tube presents several drawbacks. Firstly, it makes certain original bottle designs impossible, particularly in the field of perfumery. In addition a dip-tube in a transparent receptacle is disadvantageous from the point of view of appearance, and the wide variety of receptacle shapes makes it necessary to manufacture special tubes for practically each special shape. Furthermore, variations in the length of the tube in relation to the bottom of glassware make it impossible for the dip-tube to be defined industrially.
In the prior art, there exist so-called "squeeze-bottle" devices in which the liquid is expelled through an outlet duct by deforming the flexible wall of the receptacle. Such a device is described in documents FR-A-1 539 702, FR-A-1 525 560, and 3 382 870. These documents also disclose the use of a retention member for defining a single dose. However, none of those devices operate with a precompression pump that delivers one or more predetermined doses very accurately. Similarly, those devices cannot be fitted to receptacles having rigid walls, such as glass perfume bottles, for example.